Automobile design trends are pointing towards including a variety of devices on an automobile. Another trend is to allow different users to customize various devices installed on an automobile depending on which of the several regular users of the car is using the car. For example, customized seat adjustments, climate control preferences, radio station and music preferences, etc., are the common preference that each user of the automobile may want to customize and store for future use.
A typical automobile may be used by drivers other than the owner of that automobile. In such situation it is necessary to protect various vehicle devices and settings from being changed or tampered by unauthorized users of the vehicle. It would be tedious to individually lock each of the devices every time a user like a valet or a young driver from the family uses the automobile. Hence, there is a need for a convenient mechanism to protect multiple devices installed on an automobile, where such protection operates in recognition of the type of driver using the automobile.
Proliferation of devices installed in an automobile has increased the need to protect the vehicle and various devices installed on the vehicle. For example, a given automobile can be shared by an owner and his employee. The employer-owner of the car can store phone numbers of his family and friends on the cellular phone installed in the car. The employer may want the employee to use the car at times, but the employer may not like the employee to access the stored personal numbers. In such situations, it becomes critical to allow access to certain functions of the car, but also to disable other functions.
A locking or disabling facility may be provided for each individual vehicle device that holds personal data. However, a user of an automobile may find it tedious to lock each device that stores personal data every time he or she exits the automobile. Hence, there is a need to provide a convenient way to protect personal data that is stored on various vehicle devices. It is desirable that such protection should not require extensive modifications to existing vehicle designs. Further, such protection should preferably be implemented without requiring specialized and expensive components.
Apart from the above devices automobiles may include controls for various basic functions. For example, engines, transmissions, telematics, cruise control etc. that are mounted on a vehicle are commonly controlled by electrical control systems. There is a need to provide a convenient way to allow certain users to access certain basic functions, while disallowing access to other functions. For example, a valet using the car with a valet key should be allowed to drive the car, but may not drive the car beyond a set mileage. Another example may be a rental car situation, where the rental car company may want to limit the maximum speed of the car to a set limit to protect the car.
There is a need for a convenient and low cost mechanism to control access and functions of the multiple functions of the car and devices installed on the car. Such control should allow either complete disabling of a set of devices or allowing limited functionality of such devices.